The author can choose to either jerk off the hearts of 16 year old girls with an extremely cheesy cast of characters that follow a typical romance story plot-line; with a tragic ending being the only thing different. Such authors are fucking sell-outs who lack the skill to make a meaningful and entertaining story. That means you too Nicholas Sparks.
The other direction an author could take with the exact same setting of an evidently terminal main character introduced in the very beginning of the series; is to simply not build a story around the fact that the MC will die but instead to use it to build upon another more interesting story.
YLIA is not about a romantic relationship between an ill girl and a traumatized MC, it is about a guy who overcomes his weaknesses with the help of a terminally ill girl. The main focus of this anime isn’t even on the relationships between the characters but the musical score that acts as a centre-piece in most episodes. If I had to rank which anime had the best soundtrack soo far, YLIA would win a flawless victory.
With breath-taking animations, bitter-sweet comedy, incredible segments where the characters do nothing but play instruments and most importantly an important lesson to take away in the end; “Your Lie In April” takes top prize as my favourite rom-com anime.
